The Green Curry Project

I had a really bad experience cooking thai food back in college. Something inspired me to try and make pad thai and at the crucial moment where you ad the fish sauce I dropped the bottle and spilled the entire contents on the floor. Fish sauce is made out of fermented sea critters and smells absolutely foul. As did my kitchen for the next 6 months. The lingering smell final went away but the memory of the catastrophe did not. Even attempting a simple stir fry would not cross my mind. That was until my corner thai take-out joint cut the portions in half and doubled their prices. You see I really had no choice if I wanted to continue my love affair with vegetarian thai curry. The green curry project begins.

Now that I was committed I needed to find a decent recipe. After some internet research I found one that met all the criteria - fish sauce was not required, heavy on the veggies, no ingredients I had to go anywhere more exotic than Whole Foods to procure. I gathered up the goodies, pulled on my big girl pants, and got to work in the kitchen. Slice, saute, simmer and wait. The whole house took on a spicy musk and everything stewed away. The final results were not exactly like what you get in a restaurant. The soup base was sweeter and thicker. And it took on the color of the vegetables a little more than I'm used to. Next time I'll try adding some broth to thin things out, and maybe saute the vegetables separately and add them at the last second. But all in all I'd deem this project a success. My fridge is stocked with enough curry to feed me for an entire week and I've regained my confidence to venture into the asian section of my cookbook collection.